How Long Can I Wait After Finding a Lump to See a Doctor?

Question: Is it safe to wait weeks or longer for a doctor's appointment after I have found a breast lump?

Answer: The timing of an appointment for a breast lump is both an emotional and a pragmatic issue. It's been well shown that breast cancer does not grow rampantly so that days count. We have good evidence that many months' delay in the diagnosis of breast cancer does not change the outcome of breast cancer.

On the other hand, a woman who has found a lump in her breast is very concerned that she might have breast cancer and does not want to wait weeks and weeks and weeks to see her physician. So one has to use some common sense.

Having a breast lump is not a life-and-death emergency for which the physician should drop all their other patients that they're also seeing. On the other hand, you want it dealt with expeditiously. But there's no concern if it's a week or two to see your physician regarding this.